Looking at the bustling street in front of him and the curious glances from passersby, Leon couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed as he inquired, or rather reminded her,
"We’ve already left the Realm of the Dead. Are you feeling better?"
Emma lightly nodded her head, and seeing Leon’s slightly flushed ears, she couldn’t help but let out a gentle laugh before releasing her arms from around Leon’s neck.
"I’m feeling much better now. You can put me down."
Hearing Emma’s words, Leon, who felt a bit uneasy under the surprised gazes of the onlookers, quickly squatted down slightly and let Emma off his back. He then proactively asked,
"Senior Emma, would you like to come back with me to the bureau first, or?"
"I think I’ll head home first."
Gently smoothing out the creased clothing on Leon’s back, Emma reached out to adjust his crooked collar. With a gentle gaze and a soft voice, she said,
"Ellie must be missing me, and I want to go home and see her too, so I won’t be accompanying you back to the bureau. By the way, Leon, are your siblings free the day after tomorrow?"
Would Anna and the others be free?
Upon hearing Emma’s words, Leon was momentarily bewildered, then nodded and said,
"Anna won’t come of age for a few more months and hasn’t started job hunting yet. She just helps manage the apartment, so she should be free. William and Melanie are in school, but the day after tomorrow is a public holiday, so they’re both free as well."
"Since they’re all free, can they come over the day after tomorrow?"
Without seeing any signs of reluctance in Leon’s eyes, Emma cautiously suggested in a low voice,
"Ellie... Her situation is quite special, so she hasn’t been able to attend school and doesn’t interact with kids her age. She doesn’t have many friends. If it’s possible, could you bring your siblings over the day after tomorrow?"
So that’s how it was.
Imagining for a moment a well-behaved girl like Senior Emma, unable to attend school due to family reasons, left alone in an empty house, waiting for her mother’s return, Leon felt a surge of pity in his heart.
Determined to sternly instruct the two troublemakers at home not to bully the young girl, Leon patted his chest and promised,
"As long as there’s nothing special happening, we’ll definitely be there by eight in the morning the day after tomorrow!"
"Thank you, then I’ll be on my way."
With a smile, Emma bid farewell to Leon, hailed a steam cab, opened the door, and got in. As Leon turned to leave, she couldn’t help but look through the cab window at Leon’s back, which, although not broad, seemed especially reliable.
She remembered the time Leon got drunk at the bureau, and she had to take him home. He had plucked a bunch of celery from the balcony, handing it to her like a bouquet, confidently declaring that age wasn’t an issue, having a daughter wasn’t an issue...
Were those words sincere?
Unexpectedly, there was an unforeseen gain!
Unaware that someone was looking at his back, Leon, after sending Emma onto the cab, eagerly opened the badge panel and looked at the new badge that popped up after leaving the Realm of the Dead.
[Escorted to the Realm of the Dead by the Sin-eating Crocodile Ampu, you, as a living being, stepped onto the No Return Path and were sent back by the Guardian of Death’s Watch Angsi. Upon returning to the realm of the living, you successfully activated the hidden Golden Badge, ’The Survivor.’]
[The Survivor: A being who once came extremely close to death but ultimately survived.]
[Effect of Wearing: As someone who has witnessed the afterlife, you will become extremely sensitive to the presence of death and can vaguely sense impending death.]
[Advancement Route: None.]
[Hidden Traits (no need to wear): As a living person who left the Realm of the Dead, your scent has already been firmly remembered by the Guardian of Death’s Watch Angsi. Once it catches a whiff of your scent, it will awaken directly from its long slumber outside the gates of the Realm of the Dead. Therefore, unless you have sufficiently powerful companions nearby, it’s best not to approach the gates of the Realm of the Dead, or you’ll be fiercely bitten by all three heads!]
This was basically a death alarm!
Compared to having a vague precognition of death, getting bitten by a dog while passing through the gates of the Realm of the Dead didn’t matter at all!
He didn’t even know how to go to the Realm of the Dead by himself, so it was impossible to pass through the gates alone unless someone took him out. And if someone did, and he was already gone, then getting bitten would be the least of his worries. *He could deal with death’s matters once he was dead!*
After reviewing the effects of [The Survivor], Leon immediately adjusted his badge panel and equipped this newly acquired badge.
Currently, Leon’s badge panel had seven slots.
In them, [Materialism] took a stable position, and the similarly abnormal [Immortal in Liquor] required copious drinking to activate, so it didn’t need to be equipped often. When invincibility was required, he could switch it temporarily.
Among the remaining Golden Badges, the one that made others bow, [Migratory Thrush Prince], took one slot. The sheep-gut series [I Am the Demon] and the Holy Spirit series [Deputy] both needed constant equipping, already taking up four slots.
For timely retrieval of items from the Mirror World and communication with Young Ha, [Poop Scooper], though merely an iron badge, needed frequent equipping, adding up to five slots already filled.
As for the egg-beating [Pity it’s Not], the guise-deceiving [Master Performer], the secret technique inheritor [Aquarius], and the [Shooting Expert], they could only share the last two slots and be replaced as needed.
Now that the death-predicting [The Survivor] had arrived, it took up another long-term slot, which meant the remaining ten-plus badges would have to rotate in the last slot.
Having acquired a decent badge, the slots had become more strained.
Feeling the faint death auras on the surrounding passersby through [The Survivor], Leon couldn’t help but let out a sigh of regret.
*Pity the slot determination for [Materialism] didn’t apply to anomalous objects he’d forged himself. Otherwise, he’d simply create a few more pieces of junk to meet the standard of acquiring 16 anomalous objects and unlock the eighth badge slot. For now, he’d have to make do.*
With a sense of regret at not being able to exploit a loophole, Leon identified the street he was on, found that it was not far from the municipal district, and decided against hiring a cab. Instead, he walked towards the Purification Bureau.
*After returning from the Boarding Tower, he discovered that Senior Emma was in trouble, following Senior Tom non-stop into the Scales Gold Sect gathering. He wondered how those Rebels and Senior Pioni were doing.*
*Although middle-aged Joshua hadn’t lied, the door he opened for them must have been safe, and with Senior Pioni protecting them, they were unlikely to be in danger. Still, it was hard to rest easy without seeing them in person.*
Oh, right, speaking of Senior Pioni...
At this thought, Leon couldn’t help but touch his cufflinks, his face showing a strong sense of guilt.
*Sorry, Senior. Although I didn’t lose your ’brother,’ your rear end might be gone, and it’s probably in the hands of the Goddess of Fortune, and I don’t even know how to ask for it back...*